[SP-F2] <<Long live the queen>>

[Calyx 0]

As he should have seen coming, the queen's nearby legs began swiping at Calyx, and one managed to get him in his right shoulder, just above his shield. Calyx yanked the sword out of the queen's underside and staggered backward, on guard against another attack. He rubbed his shoulder with his sword arm in an attempt to rally it back into functionality so he could use his shield again. "Quit dancing and get it over with. My wings are getting tired.", Lockheed complained. "It's not like I'm trying to get hit! I want to finish her off too...", Calyx retorted; but the dragon remained unconvinced. "Hm. Could've fooled me." "Yeah, well, maybe if your wings weren't so scrawny, you'd be able to stay up there for longer.", Calyx jabbed. That should have been his first retort; it was what shut the dragon up. But he never could come up with good quips very fast. And by the time he did, they just seemed mean and out of place, and he knew that was the case with Lockheed now. The dragon's diminutive size wasn't his own fault; if anything it was Calyx's. The creature had shrunken from intimidating beast down to adorable puppy size when Calyx had accidentally bonded with it and become a Beast Tamer a few weeks ago. Since then, Calyx had tried not to poke fun at the dragon's size, as it was clear that Lockheed missed being giant and intimidating; but sometimes he got a little big for his scaly orange britches.

 

MD: 8 (-2), ID 3933

Calyx health: 18 -2 (+1) = 17

Queen health: 9

[Calyx 0]

Calyx snapped out of his ever-wandering thoughts, and fixed his gaze back on the queen. He was determined to get this fight over as quickly as possible now, and he didn't want to give Lockheed another excuse to say something. He charged at the queen, this time with his shield raised, and made solid contact with her left side as she tried to dodge away. It felt like a hollow victory, however, as all Calyx was able to think about was how he already regretted insulting his friend...

 

BD: 9 (+2), ID 3934

Calyx health: 17

Queen health: 9 -5 =4

[Calyx 0]

It turns out that the Cardinal's AI is pretty good, because the queen noticed that Calyx was distracted and immediately spun in to attack. Seizing the opportunity, she rushed toward Calyx as he slowly turned to face her again, and lunged at him with her stinger. Calyx hadn't seen her coming, and as such hadn't raised his shield. The queen's stinger drove straight into Calyx's chest; and although his armor kept the spike from piercing him entirely, the force did send him flying backwards until he landed on his rear about a meter away.

 

MD: 9 (-2), ID 3936

Calyx health: 17 -3 (+2) = 16

Queen health: 4

[Calyx 0]

Calyx staggered to his feet and felt the blood rush to his digital face in embarrassment. In an attempt to reclaim his dignity, he rushed straight at the queen, not bothering to put his shield up, and slid just before he got to her, slashing her vulnerable underbelly once again. The queen hadn't been expecting this, and swiped at the air where Calyx had just been, rather than where he went. Calyx's sword dragged a good distance along the underside of the queen, and he noticed it sealed up more slowly than after previous attacks. That could mean only one thing: the queen must be nearly finished...

 

BD: 8 (+2); ID 3937

Calyx health: 16

Queen health: 4 -3 =1

[Calyx 0]

Calyx found his way to his feet on the other side of the queen, who now seemed very disoriented. She was still looking for her recent attacker in front of or below her, and it never seemed to occur to her that Calyx's slide had put him directly behind. Calyx knew that this was a prime opportunity to catch his enemy unawares, and he intended to make the most of it and finish this fight.

 

MB: 6 (-2), ID 3938

Calyx health: 16 -0 =16

Queen health: 1

[Calyx 0]

Calyx brought his sword down across the queen's backside and made contact. It wasn't a hearty blow, but it turned out to be enough. The queen slowed and drifted down and to her right, shattering just before she made hit the ground. Calyx sighed and lowered his weapon, hoping that nothing else was going to rise from the surrounding field. "About time.", Lockheed thought. "Oh, hush. Just come back and reclaim your perch.", Calyx said as he slung his shield over his back.

 

BD: 5 (+2), ID 3939

Calyx health: 16

Queen health: 1 -3 = 0

 

LD: 12

+1 mat 

+Shoulder Pauldron (Good item)

+3 skill points

+ <<The Matriarch's Stinger>> (+1 to DMG for one battle)

[Calyx 0]

Suddenly, Calyx heard a ding and saw a message appear in the air before him: [Quest Complete: <<Long Live the Queen>>]. "Huh. Gotta love freebie quests. I wonder if i got anything special..." Calyx pulled his inventory open and examined the new contents. "A mat, some armor... Hot dog! Three skill points!" Calyx looked back at Lockheed for acknowledgement, but his reptilian face remained the epitome of stoic disinterest. "And... <<The Matriarch's Stinger>>? Well that's ironic. Looks like a buff... But it only lasts for one battle. Meh. Not my style. I guess we can just sell it at the shop."

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed remained silent and made no eye contact with his bound partner. Calyx hated dealing with emotions and situations like these, but he knew he was in the wrong, and he hated the awkward tension he had created between himself and the dragon even more. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have said what I did about you being scrawny. Kayaba knows I got enough of that myself in my old life, and I of all people should have known better than to pull that on you..."

[Calyx 0]

"Let's just go." Calyx knew Lockheed was even less likely to talk about feelings than he was, and the dragon certainly wasn't going to admit to the weakness of having had his hurt. Even if he had been willing to talk, combat was the only thing that had ever been able to redeem Calyx in Lockheed's eyes. Doing things was what mattered to the dragon, not what anyone's intentions were. He only responded to actions, not words.

[Calyx 0]

Just then Calyx had an idea. "Hang on...", he said as he pulled up his stat page and began staring at the numbers. Lockheed remained clinging to the back of Calyx's shield, unfazed. Calyx was a bit of a stat nerd, so this was a common enough occurrence that the dragon thought nothing of it. In fact, when there had been a update to the SAO battle system recently, Calyx had spent the better part of a day pouring over all the numbers, trying to reevaluate the optimal build to make sure he stayed ahead of the curve. In fact, it was what had prompted him to abandon his beloved greatsword Kaeseras and switch to a sword and shield in the first place...

[Calyx 0]

"If I put some of my new skill points into Extended Weight Limit instead of damage, I can get an extra active inventory slot and do...." Calyx tapped around his menu screens furiously until Lockheed jumped as a large pauldron appeared out of thin air on Calyx's right shoulder. "This." He closed his inventory screen. "There, now you have enough room to sit up on my shoulder instead of having to hang onto my shield. I know it's not as high up as you would be on Kaeseras, but it's the best I can do without crippling myself in battle..."

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed looked at Calyx for a moment and then slowly and cautiously climbed up on his right shoulder, as if the pauldron might disappear out from under him at any moment. "Why would you trade power for this? It seems an unwise investment..." Calyx shrugged, which now comically caused Lockheed to rise into the air a few inches and lose his balance. "I know how much you miss Kaeseras, and I hate to see you clinging to my shield like that. Well. I can't actually see you when you're back there, but you know what I mean. Besides, I don't want them to be just my skill points; we're stuck together, remember?", Calyx said with an attempt at a smile.

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed's suspicious gaze finally softened a bit. "Hm. Well I'm still not sure it's the wisest decision, but maybe the extra armor will keep you from getting beaten up so badly when you're fighting. After all, we wouldn't want anything too traumatic to happen to you. After all, I'm not sure what would happen to me..."

[Calyx 0]

The dragon made an interesting point; Calyx wasn't really sure what would happen if he died... Lockheed was ultimately just an AI, so maybe the System would recycle him and put him back in the cave where Calyx found him; or maybe he'd be deleted entirely. There wasn't really any way to know, there was no one to ask, and Calyx hoped the two of them would never have to find out. That thought aside, what Lockheed had just said was probably the closest thing Calyx had ever gotten to a compliment from him, so he decided to take it as a sign that things were okay again.

[Calyx 0]

Seeming satisfied with his new home, Lockheed settled comfortably onto the pauldron and began to scan the field ahead for something interesting. The Wasp Queen had been vanquished, most of the lesser Wasps farmed, and Calyx decided it was probably a good idea to head back into town and rest his HP back up. He still had some extra skill points to allocate, even with the few he had spent on the extra inventory slot for Lockheed's pauldron, and he wanted to see if he could find an alternative to his shield. Reaching up and grabbing the one across his back was going to be awkward now with the pauldron in the way, but he had no intentions of saying a word about it in front of Lockheed, lest he feel bad. Calyx was happy to have been able to improve the dragon's conditions, even if it was just an AI, and he marched off to town in search of rest and a new adventure.

[Calyx 0]

RP COMPLETE

 

Loot:

Wasp: 1 mat

Queen/quest: 1 mat, shoulder pauldron (good item), 3 skill points, matriarch's stinger

Completed RP: 1 skill point